THE MERRY MONTH OF MAY

This is weird. I wrote a post yesterday under the above title---and it's nowhere to be found, lost in cyberspace. I'll try to reconstruct it.

May is one of my favorite months here in Sanibel Island on the southwest coast of Florida. The weather is usually wonderful, even if this year is a bit warmer and more humid than usual, but still bearable. By this time the tourist season is over. Normally it is over by late April but, due to the late Easter this year, the tourist season extended into the first week in May. We restless "natives" (that is, anyone who calls this home whether here a year or thirty) are catching our collective breaths and enjoying the comparative peace and quiet. On June 1, hurricane season starts, lasting until November 1. We had a bad one in 2004 which severely damaged our condo on the beach, a prime rental property (which we have owned for thirty-four years) reopened for rental in 2005. We also had limited damage to the house: a pool cage knocked down, which in turn damaged our antique fountain---all fine now. The weather in the summer becomes a steam bath with late afternoon showers the usual rule, but by October it is usually great.

Spring is at its best right now. We had a hard rain a few days ago, which was needed, and nature then exploded. We have a Strangler Fig tree in the middle of our front lawn, surrounded by flowering shrubs, in which we have periodically added orchids which are showing a profusion of white blooms. We also have a Hong Kong Orchid tree in the front, the pride of the neighborhood, which normally is covered with pink flowers from November to March; this year, it's still showing lots of pink in May.

Our backyard is right on the second fairway near the green of the Beachview Country Club, so, when we built the house nine years ago, we decided we had enough grass with the fairway and concentrated on native plants and some exotics in our back garden. The bougainvillea were exceptionally fiery this year, especially in March and April though still showing lots of red. Bottlebrush trees, exora, yucca, clumps of native grasses and lots of yellow dune flowers make a bright display and attract birds and butterflies. We also have a swimming pool enclosed in a large and sturdy screen enclosure to keep birds and critters out. In the corner of the pool is our antique fountain which my grandfather purchased in Florence, Italy in 1905, had at his house in Ohio for many years, after which I moved it to my home in Ohio for forty years---and then moved it down here.

As for birds, we have a lot. I've told you about the woodpeckers who made apartments in a dead palm next to our house. They must have got "territorial" and decided that the screech owl should not have an apartment there. So much for my multi-ethnic neighborhood! I'm happy to report, however, we have spied the screech owl who moved over to the Strangler Fig and made a nest there, so he's still in the neighborhood! The only nasty ones are some noisy crows who sometimes come in flocks and make their annoying "uh-uh" sound. We have lots of herons and egrets who travel in flotillas and are prevalent especially after a good rain when they can eat worms and insects. it looks and sounds like a ladies' club meeting when they congregate. You have to be careful driving on the street, because these congregations take their own sweet time crossing.

We love Sanibel anytime---but it's extra-special in the merry month of May.